PHILADELPHIA Listening device found in mayor's office

Mayor Street said the device had not been placed in the office by law officials.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Police conducting a routine security sweep of Mayor John F. Street's City Hall office found a hidden listening device Tuesday morning, authorities said.
Street, who is seeking re-election, quickly sought to reassure city residents that his office was not the subject of an investigation. The FBI said the device was not connected to any campaign espionage, but refused to say whether Street was being investigated.
Asked at a news conference about the FBI's conclusion, Street said he didn't know how they could eliminate any possibilities or "rule anything in or out."
FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi refused to answer when asked whether the FBI had placed a surveillance device in the mayor's office.
Tuesday's discovery comes near the end of a heated mayoral campaign. Street beat Republican challenger Sam Katz four years ago by less than 10,000 votes in this city of 1.5 million. Polls also show a neck-and-neck race in this year's campaign.
Confrontation
In August, someone tossed what might have been an unlit firebomb through the window of a Katz campaign office, and an aide to Street and a former city employee were charged with terroristic threats last month in connection with a confrontation that happened earlier in the day near that office.
Katz recently accused a Street supporter of brandishing a gun and telling Katz and his wife, "You're going down." And supporters of Street, who is black, have accused supporters of Katz, who is white, of race baiting.
The listening device, which police declined to describe, was discovered at 7 a.m., Street and Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said at a joint news conference.
Police said officers conduct inspections of the mayor's office every three or four months.
The Katz campaign denied having anything to do with the device, and campaign spokeswoman Maureen Garrity said the FBI's conclusion backed up that assertion.
'Matter of concern'
Street called the discovery "a huge matter of concern." He said he was confident the device had not been placed in the office by law enforcement officials.
"The question that ultimately will get raised in the minds of some people is, 'Who's investigating the mayor's office?'" Street said. "Well, in response to that question, I want to assure the people of this city that this mayor is not being investigated. I have done nothing wrong."
George Burrell, a Street administration aide, said he was confident that "neither the mayor nor anyone on the mayor's staff is the subject of an untoward investigation."
Officials would not say where in the office the device had been found or how long it was believed to have been in place.